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Sunday, 29 December 2013

I've been collecting 15mm figures for my Irregular Wars
'Mere Irish' Battle. 'Mere' is today a slighting term but originally meant
'pure', i.e. it designated the native Gaelic Irish. Galloglass and Kerns are compulsory in the army list before
1600 and Pike and Shot after 1600, but all types are usable across the divide.
In 'set piece' battles there are 5 additional options which take the form of
x1, xD2 or xD3 etc companies. So for any option you have to allow for more units
than you might actually get to field on the table.

I'm currently planning the following units. Each unit is a
company/base. Most of the figures are Khurasan Renaissance Irish, but others
will be conscripted where required. I decided in the end to go with the standard 30mm square bases as I
felt that larger bases would crowd the battlefield too much and alter the game.
I could increase the playing area to compensate for larger bases but I want to keep the game compact and not
too demanding on painting time.

2 Pike

2 Shot

3 Galloglass

4 Kerns

4 Horse

3 Bonnachts

3 Kern marksmen

2 Redshanks

1 Priest

I was also going to add some Spanish Targeteers but I think
I'll postpone that and do a whole 'Spanish Expeditionary Force' Battle once Khurasan have released their Spanish range. For each extra Battle, you add a foot in width. Given that my club like multiplayer games, it will be good to be able to deploy a couple of Battles per side.

Pike. All Khurasan. The end figure is an ensign from the command pack.

Saturday, 28 December 2013

I thought it was time to improve the photos of miniatures used here so I knocked up a simple light box. There are loads of articles on how to do it if you Google for them.

I used an old cardboard box. I cut widows in the top and sides and covered them with tracing paper. This diffuses the light. The white card inside is curved and produces a continuous bottom and back surface. I suppose this took me about an hour to make.

I already have a desk lamp with a daylight bulb which I will use to light the box from above. Ideally I would also have lamps at the sides. This should provide a good environment. Improving my photography will require more study and experiment.

Tuesday, 10 December 2013

Basing choice is a major bane of planning wargame armies.
Irregular Wars calls for square bases. 30mm x 30mm is suggested for 15mm
figures but 40mm x 40mm (using sabots if necessary) is allowed to accommodate figures already based for other rules, e.g. DBR. As I don't already have any finished
15mm pike-and-shot era figures I'm faced with a choice.

The figures in the illustrations are all from Khurasan's excellent new Irish Renaissance range. I'm planning to publish better pictures in a future instalment.

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